When you have a contract/job from a client who is paying, by the hour specifically, how do you get away with taking hundreds of photos? I know it takes me a good amount of time to take 20-30 photos of a detail and I can just imagine how much time is spent when taking 5-10 times that. Do you charge your clients for that time or include it in a global price, or not charge them at all. I'm asking because I've seen some threads that have upwards of 150 pictures some times and I ask myself "what if the owner of the car/client found out that this guy was "wasting time" taking pictures instead of getting the work done?" What is everyone's take on this?
I don't charge for the time it takes to do the pics. I just incorporate it into the amount of time I tell the customer the job is going to take. Some jobs I have never shot, especially if it's a repeat car. I only charge them for the actual work.
I take pictures and keep them on my HD for liability, it shows before and after work, and in fact if its a recommendation and I don't personally know the person I take the pictures with them standing there while I'm taking the pics, That way we are on the same page about what needs to be done, the condition it was brought in, and the condition it leaves.
I am with Kilo. I often ask and discuss with a customer that because of the nature of work that we do we document everything. I ask if that is OK with them and usually they are fine. I do always check and inspect with them and P&S shoot pics with them there as well. After inspection they are given a time to completion and the bill time - which are usually only different by a few minutes but otherwise they are not paying for our documentation. I take many photos for my own records, but already have in my head what I feel is important to shoot for me, for the customer and any marketing or educational stuff that may come of it.
I always always always take pictures of curbed wheels, any type of pre existing damage and I make sure the customer acknowledges the issues. I have never had to fight someone on anything, but I never want to either.
I had a customer who asked me to detail his wife car, she asked for paint correction. I saw too many RIDs that were too deep and will be very expensive to correct. I didn't bother with up sell, instead I told her husband that its best to just do a protection detail + interior detail. I mean who wants to speed $500 on paint correction on a $3000 car? so she goes to another detail shop after my work is done and they said I just washed the car and they can remove the scratches. so the husband ( they're actually getting divorce ) ask me if I can make a video to show her what I did and Thank god I have the photos!! I say it takes 10-30 mins total for my photo documentation, but its very important in this business. here's the video, you decide... [video=youtube;hGVDwOGjVak]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hGVDwOGjVak[/video]
In all reality, once you are fairly competant with your camera, it doesn't eat up that much time. For starters, I take all my before's on AUTO. Who cares if they aren't tack sharp or perfectly exposed? I just want to show the condition before hand. As I go about my business, experience has taught me what settings to use in certain conditions so I don't spend a lot of time screwing around with settings unless I'm trying something new. Most of my shots are afters when the client is not being charged for time anyway. As well, most of my work are packages so if it takes an extra hour for photos, the client isn't being bilked.
When I do a full correction I always take a lot of photos. It is simply part of the process, just like priming pads, moving lights, inspection, test spots, etc. I then provide the customer with a write up on the process and all the photos as well as care recommendations. This is primarily for advertising purposes, as they always show this to friends. They all appreciate the little extra and since it usually takes a week or two for me to finish and get it to them, they are able to appreciate the transformation all over again.
I take lots of photos, and sometimes videos....for my customers they are happy with this, because if not just getting their car detailed, its an overall experience for them and their cars. They become involved, usually they want to take pics themselves whilst im working on the cars and when i say i can send them the pics afterwards, or the links to forums etc they are over the moon.....obviously there are the pics of defects before hand to ensure i dont fall into that trap. But I do not charge by the hour but for the service, so sometimes i could be there for a few hours and sometimes 14 hours......
Thanks for the replies guys. As I stated earlier, I also take pictures, just not as many as some of you pros, and was wondering what your take was. I like your idea nthdegree, I may try that. And Ken, I think we may need to talk about use of camera, I only have a beginners course in photography from college and still have trouble getting my camera to do what I want with it!
I take enough pics to capture what is needed, before and after pics also if a certain angle really displays the car nice I like to capture that as well. If a typical pic takes 5 seconds to take, 40-100 pics even for a detailed write up is not a big investmemnt in time at all and the documemtation of everything always pays dividends as I yet to have a customer react badly to showing them just how much goes into the job, in fact in enhances the "Value" aspect of even a costly correction job as sometimes when I deliver let's say a lighter colored vehicle the difference is not as dramatic until you see the finish in pics under certain lighting and angles before and after. In my hourly charge the client is billed for the hour even when I take a break for a meal, also conversly I am not billing for the extra time it ALWAYS takes to do anyjob as I can estimate as close as possible but I cannot remember a job where I could of said "That's good enough" as I will try then I look at the area and my OCD will not allow me to do it even in alot of cases the customer did not pay to go to that degree(With in reason of course as I WILL be profitable...lol).
Get this book Joey....HOW TO DIGITALLY PHOTOGRAPH CARS by Jason Siu and Josh Mackey. I always have it with me. It shows pics they have taken in different lighting scenarios, locations etc but it also includes all their camera settings so you can get a baseline starting point when you take yours. Made learning a lot easier. BTW, I just got my Nikon about two years ago and have taken about 17,000 pics. Practice practice practice.
If you are able to change your settings on your camera then I would say yes. Its not an expensive book, around $20USD, but its been a great help for me and you know you will be getting a DSLR so might as well pony up now. LOL
Nothing justifies your price better than great before and after photos of THEIR car. Its just part of the job, your showing your clients the work you did (possibly buildling their ego a bit if you do a writeup that many people view and comment on it)
I usually take between 50 and 200 photos depending on how much work was done to the car. Like others have said, I also charge for the package, and not by the hour. I would rather charge X dollars and be able to complete it at my leisure without the owner think i'm trying to rip him off.
